Seems like Donek has one already (great instructions on building a vacuum table, anyway! We use this type of thing for all our ski/snowboard-related work): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOrkvPF0pro
The makerslide seems pretty flimsy to me, but at that price someone on this forum might give it a go. The youtube videos on this thing look pretty promising, but I'm not sure if it's accurate enough to profile cores at tight tolerances. Maybe if one could somehow beef up the gantry rails and change the z-axis to a ballscrew drive, it could become a cheap option for home-builders.
pretty neat. I got stuff drag knifed from him (my blak sheep bases) and it was dead on.
Notice, however, how everything outside the work area is taped up.
That is a big issue, getting the vacuum to work under only the part you're working on.
I think for my own purposes, i'm going to build a seperate vacuum box for each type of thing, such as woodcore profiling, base cutting, drag knifing graphics, etc.
It's not really necessary to use tape to close the holes that are not covered by your workpiece. We just put some particle board or mdf scraps on there.
gonna build a box like this, but simplify the cutting and therefore simplify the assembly, but it will be basically the same thing. Going to try to make one for just woodcores for now, if works well i'll build one out thats the entire cnc work area .
I thinks this one is for very light work/materials. Does not look very rigid.
But the vacuum table video is nice. I use very small 2mm holes on mine. What size of holes do you use. I think you loose a lot of air if you cut through the core and there is nothing on some holes. Need to redesign my vac table anyway... air channels inside are too small.
I talked to Sean Martin and he reckoned that the version with the shorter 36" travel gantry should be up to the task of profiling cores, however only at slow speeds.
From the assembly videos I saw, it looked like it would be quite easy to extend the distance between the two z-axis plates and add a couple more makerslides between them to stiffen the gantry slides.
Currently building a new vacuum box like the one Donek is using. It will cover the whole area in between the locating pins on our cnc which is 2.6x1m. The whole box will be made of Purenit sheets. This material handles like mdf but it is lighter and dimensionally stable even under extreme conditions (i.e. you could soak it in hot water and it won't change shape!).
22k EUR for a used machine (year of construction is 2001) including transport and initial setup. And yes, I guess it's quite easy to stiffen the gantry on a CNC Mogul
The problem with the mogul is, that the z-axis goes around the y-axis otherwise it would be a lot easier to stiffen the gantry e.g. screw a rectangular tube to the backside.
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